Fiber-reinforced composite materials composed of a fiber material and a matrix material are light and stiff materials, and enable various functional designs. Such fiber-reinforced composite materials are used in a wide range of fields, including aerospace field, transportation field, structural engineering field, and exercise equipment field. Currently, fiber-reinforced plastics (FRPs) composed of a reinforcing fiber material, such as carbon fibers or glass fibers, and a thermosetting resin material are the mainstream. However, it is thought that the development of moldings using a thermoplastic resin material as a matrix resin will increase in the future because of their advantages such as improvements in recycling efficiency, short-time moldability, and shock resistance of the moldings.
Meanwhile, in forming moldings, to ease forming and reduce the forming cost, moldings formed of a multiaxially reinforced sheet material, in which reinforcing fiber materials are stacked such that their reinforcing directions are multiaxial, and a method for forming the same are attracting attention.
Thus, it is expected to produce a sheet material composed of a multiaxially reinforced sheet material, in which reinforcing fiber materials are multiaxially laminated, and a thermoplastic resin material, and a high-quality, low-cost molding composed of such a sheet material, which can be produced in a short-time.
As an example of the sheet material composed of a reinforcing fiber material and a thermoplastic resin material, Patent Document 1 discloses that a prepreg sheet or a semi-prepreg sheet containing a thermoplastic resin is formed by stacking a reinforcing fiber sheet formed of a plurality of reinforcing fiber tows arranged in one direction and a thermoplastic-resin nonwoven fabric made of thermoplastic resin fibers formed into nonwoven fabric, and applying pressure while applying heat to melt the thermoplastic-resin nonwoven fabric so that the reinforcing fiber tows are impregnated or half-impregnated with the thermoplastic resin.
As an example of the sheet material composed of a reinforcing fiber material that is multiaxially reinforced and a thermoplastic resin material, Patent Document 2 discloses a reinforcing multiaxial stitched fabric formed by stacking at least two layers, each formed of multiple reinforcing fiber filaments arranged parallel to one another in a sheet-like structure, in a crosswise manner to form a laminate, and stitching the laminate with a low-melting polymer thread. Also disclosed is that, by impregnating the reinforcing multiaxial stitched fabric with a thermosetting resin or a thermoplastic resin and subjecting it to heat molding at the melting point of the low-melting polymer thread or higher, an FRP molding having excellent surface smoothness with no organization of the stitching thread is obtained.
Patent Document 3 discloses a fiber-reinforced sheet reinforced in three directions and a method for producing the same, in which a prepreg sheet impregnated with a thermoplastic resin is arranged in a longitudinal direction and another thermoplastic-resin prepreg sheet is spirally wrapped around this thermoplastic-resin prepreg sheet. Also disclosed is a fiber-reinforced sheet reinforced in four directions formed by disposing a thermoplastic-resin prepreg sheet on the three-directionally reinforced fiber-reinforced sheet at 90° with respect to the longitudinal direction thereof.
Patent Document 4 discloses a method and apparatus for producing a multiaxially fiber-reinforced composite sheet, in which a cohesive unidirectional lap is formed from a combined filament yarn consisting of a reinforcing filament and an organic material filament, the lap is folded laterally with respect to the traveling direction and subjected to heat or heat and pressure to fix the reinforcing threads/organic material. Also disclosed is that the organic material is a thermoplastic resin serving as a base material, and the composite sheet is provided to enable production of complex-shaped composite-material moldings.
Patent Document 5 discloses a multiaxially laminated reinforcing fiber sheet and a method for producing the same, in which reinforcing fiber tows are spread and widened such that the width of 1000 threads is 1.3 mm or more and formed into a reinforcing fiber sheet, the reinforcing fiber sheet is then formed into oblique reinforcing fiber sheets whose reinforcing directions are oblique, and then the oblique reinforcing fiber sheets are stacked and bonded together with a heat adhesive or stitched together with a thread or a fiber having a reinforcing effect. Also disclosed is a method in which, when the oblique reinforcing fiber sheets are stacked, a matrix layer composed of a thermoplastic resin is disposed between the layers.
Patent Document 6 discloses a method for forming a fiber-reinforced thermoplastic composite material, in which a multiaxially laminated sheet is produced by integrally stitching multiaxially laminated prepreg tapes composed of reinforcing fibers impregnated with a thermoplastic resin, and the multiaxially laminated sheet is cut or laminated. Also disclosed is that, because the reinforcing fibers are preliminarily impregnated with the thermoplastic resin, forming can be performed in a relatively short time and the forming cycle can be reduced.
As a method for forming a molding using a thermoplastic resin material as a matrix resin, for example, Patent Document 7 discloses a method in which a material is disposed between a flat plate and a patterned plate and inserted into a hot press to melt the thermoplastic resin, the material, disposed between the plates, is taken out and then inserted into a cold press to be subjected to cooling, and the molding is taken out. Patent Document 8 discloses a method for producing a fiber-reinforced thermoplastic composite molding in which a fiber-reinforced thermoplastic composite material is placed in a female open mold, the entire open mold is covered with a heat-resistant bag, the air between the bag and the open mold is evacuated, and then hot pressing is performed.    Patent Document 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2003-165851    Patent Document 2: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2002-227066    Patent Document 3: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2006-224543    Patent Document 4: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication (Translation of PCT Application) No. 2004-530053    Patent Document 5: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2006-130698    Patent Document 6: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2007-1089    Patent Document 7: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. Hei 6-320655    Patent Document 8: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2004-276471    Patent Document 9: Pamphlet of International Publication No. 2005/002819    Patent Document 10: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2005-029912    Non-Patent Document 1: Kazumasa Kawabe et al. “Simulation of Thermoplastic Resin Impregnation for Developing Thermoplastic Resin Prepreg Apparatus”, Industrial Technology Center of Fukui Prefecture, Heisei 12 Research Report No. 17